<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Wonders Of The Past by regaljacki</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26215243">Wonders Of The Past</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/regaljacki/pseuds/regaljacki'>regaljacki</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Outlander (TV), Outlander Series - Diana Gabaldon</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, F/M, Love, Time Travel</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 09:15:47</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>15,385</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26215243</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/regaljacki/pseuds/regaljacki</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>What if Jamie travelled through the stones, leaving behind his wife in 1945? </p><p>Jamie Fraser is living happily with his wife Laoghaire in Inverness, 1945. Laoghaire expecting their first child at a young age, Jamie needs some time to think. Where else than his favorite spot. The Highlands. He finds himself suddenly at a stone circle which didn’t seem familiar to him. But still he felt the urge and touched the highest stone of them all.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Claire Beauchamp/Jamie Fraser</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>307</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>259</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. The Stone Circle</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was a rainy morning in Inverness, 1945. Jamie woke up from the air of fresh coffee and breakfast in his nose. He slightly smiled with the thought of his beautiful wife standing in the kitchen, preparing his first meal of the day with all her love. Her beautiful blonde long hair. He was wondering if she had put it up in a bun today or if she’d have left it down. Just the thought of that made him feel like he was the luckiest man alive.</p><p>Jamie had been with Laoghaire for about 2 years now. They have met on a group trip to the Isle of Skye. He remembered that day as it had just been yesterday. She had taken his breath away the first moment he laid his eyes on her. Ever since this trip the both of them have been dating and just recently moved in together.</p><p>He yawned and decided to walk downstairs only dressed in his underwear. It was a bun. He smiled looking at his wife being lost in her thoughts while putting a pancake, that had just been finished, in a plate next to her. He went closer and wrapped his arms around her.</p><p>“Good morning, beautiful. The smell of yer breakfast is just wonderful.”</p><p>Jamie put his head neatly on Laoghaire’s shoulder and looked at her. Her eyes closed at the feeling of her husband so close. </p><p>Laoghaire had fallen in love with Jamie the moment she laid eyes on her beautiful, tall and red-haired husband. His blue eyes were so beautiful that she still got lost in them every single time she looked into them. She felt lucky, lucky that she had been the woman he had chosen to spend the rest of his life with.</p><p>They were happy.</p><p>“Good morning, James Fraser.”</p><p>Her voice was soft, still raspy as her vocal cords had to get used to talking after a long good sleep.</p><p>“Is there a reason for this breakfast?”</p><p>Jamie knew there had to be, as his wife had only done such things in special occasions. He saw her smile fading and felt her getting nervous. He started to feel worried at the sight of Laoghaire losing her smile. He turned her towards himself, now the both of them facing each other. He took her hands in his.</p><p>“Have I upset ye? I’m sorry mo-“</p><p>She interrupted him with the sentence just escaping her mouth.</p><p>“I’m pregnant Jamie.”</p><p>His gaze froze on her and he didn’t know how to react. A bairn? Now? He wasn’t ready for something like this. He just started his career as a distiller. He wanted to invest more time in his passion and now a bairn?</p><p>“Say something Jamie.”</p><p>His wife started to get even more nervous. He had heard her saying something, but it all sounded like a low mumbling in his ears. His thoughts were too loud at the moment. All of the sudden his grip loosened from her and he walked toward the bedroom, taking the first pieces of clothing that came to his view, got dressed in a second and just left without any words to say.</p><p>Little did he know that this was just the beginning of his adventure.</p><p>While driving in his car, Jamie had suddenly stopped on the side of the road. He felt the urge to walk for a really long time. He didn’t know where he would want to go, but he needed to waste some energy. Physical energy. As he stepped out, he just walked into the first direction in which he had looked at. He walked and walked and walked, until he got out of breath.</p><p>Trying to catch his breath, Jamie held himself on a tree standing next to him. His mind was still racing and repeating the words Laoghaire had told him a few hours ago. Pregnant. He felt anything else but not joy. He sat down with his back on the tree, releasing a few tears. </p><p>“What am I supposed to do?”</p><p>His voice sounded completely different from what it usually sounded like and he could clearly hear it himself. It was just a slight whisper and way too high for his usual sound. Should he be happy? Should he try to be happy? He wasn’t someone that forced feelings on himself. He was all about truth and talking about the emotions he is going through at that exact moment. But this? He really did not know what he should feel or actually felt in that moment.</p><p>All of the sudden he got ripped out of his thoughts by loud humming. Bees? He looked around thinking if he had sat himself below a beehive, as the sound of it started to increase. But nothing could be found. Confused he raised himself from the ground, walking around the tree. Still nothing. He started to look on his left, then to his right and finally he turned around.</p><p>He couldn’t look away. The beauty of this stone circle had taken his breath away in an instant. He walked closer without realizing that the humming got stronger. All his worries and emotions from the last few hours had disappeared just by looking at those stones. This moment belonged to him. To him and those stones. He had felt a sudden deep connection to this place, and he felt his whole body vibrating to the sound of the humming.</p><p>Jamie sat next to the circle for a while, getting a cozy warm feeling around them. He wished he could just sit there forever, with all his emotions at ease, feeling like, home. He didn’t know why he felt that way, and in exactly that moment the humming got louder than before, raising him to his feet. It was like they wanted to tell him a story.</p><p>He went closer to the tallest stone in the circle, as it had been that one that talked to him.</p><p>“What are ye telling me?”</p><p>He didn’t even realize that those words actually came out loud and in his trance he went closer and closer until he had just been one step away from the tall stone. He looked up; it was huge. Not as huge as a tree but huge. All of the sudden he heard a woman scream; he never heard a sound like this before but that scream felt like it ripped out his heart at once. His eyes filled with tears, but he couldn’t explain why. All he knew was, he had to get to this woman, he had to help her. Now.</p><p>His first thought was, that she had been around the stone circle somewhere, but he found that he was the only human around there. </p><p>There it was. Again. A scream.</p><p>He looked again at the stone in front of him. Did that scream just come from that stone? He thought himself crazy, but he did not find it impossible.</p><p>Once again the humming escaped from the stone, getting Jamie back into his trance. He stared upon the stone once more, not realizing that he reached out to it and just in a few seconds laid his hands upon it.</p><p> </p><p>************</p><p>
  <i>The world was spinning. I felt like I had been trapped in a spinning wheel. I couldn’t escape. I felt trapped in it. Did I mind? No. I didn’t care in that moment and just let it happen. I gave into the feeling of hopelessness and I let the universe decide my fate. It could’ve done to me whatever it wanted. I didn’t care. But all at once the spinning wheel stopped and I opened my eyes.</i>
</p><p>************</p><p> </p><p>Jamie was laying in the tall grass next to the stone circle. He couldn’t collect what just had happened to him. He stood up, looking around. Why did the area look kind of different? It also had felt different.</p><p>He decided to walk to the car. He needed to tell Laoghaire that he was okay. He couldn’t worry her that much. After all he loved her.</p><p>Walking down the exact same path, passing the tree he sat under, back to the place where his car should have been. Where was it?! Did he walk to the wrong spot? He could have sworn he parked his car right there. Looking around he couldn’t understand. Jamie walked around thinking to himself that maybe he had been one path off, and his car was just around the next street. But it wasn’t.</p><p>Confused he just stood at the side of the road and he didn’t know what to do.</p><p>All of the sudden he heard voices and he felt a slight relief.</p><p>Looking around he saw a few men, dressed in Kilts, holding weapons, talking to each other in angry voices. He listened closely, Gaelic. A sudden feeling of home filled his body and he recollected a memory he had with his godfather Murtagh. He used to talk Gaelic with him all the time, when Jamie was a little boy. His godfather wanted him to speak the language and to keep the Highlander culture in the family.</p><p>He missed his godfather so much.</p><p>Jamie got ripped out of his thoughts the moment two large hands had grabbed him on his shoulders.</p><p>“Who are ye?”</p><p>He recollected the man that grabbed him, talking to the other men around him.</p><p>“Am faca duine agaibh an duine seo an seo roimhe?”</p><p>“Leig leam falbh” Jamie hissed, feeling the grib loosening as the Highlander understood.</p><p>This was the first time he was grateful his godfather insisted in teaching him Gaelic. But it was not clear to him, why those man, dressed in kilts, their weapons carried on their bodies, would attack him that way. He simply wanted to know the way back to Inverness.</p><p>“Could ye people tell me how to get back to Inverness? I have lost me car somewhere around here.”</p><p>The men looked at each other, questioning Jamies words. He waited for a response but realized that they probably did not understand him. But before he could say something, he had been hit by something hard on his head.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Amongst Strangers</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Jamie found himself in a strange place amongst strangers. But someone seems very familiar to him.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The ride had been long. Long and wet. Jamie woke up every now and then, but his head ached and made it difficult to stay awake. He had taken bits of pieces of this journey into his consciousness, but still couldn’t understand who those men were and why they had done what they did.</p><p>He was laying in the back of a wooden wagon, covered in blankets; rain dropping onto his face and leaving marks on his cheeks.</p><p>
  <i>”What are we going to do wi’ him, Dougal?”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>”I dinna ken.”</i>
</p><p>And that was all that Jamie heard for the next few hours as the pounding in his head increased and put him back to sleep.</p><p> </p><p>*********</p><p>
  <i>I remember sitting in the green grass in the Highlands, my godfather beside me. Teaching me the Highland culture. He had always said it was important to know where we came from and that we had to do our part to keep this culture going. I was just a wee lad, but the memory of him was beautiful. Am I dreaming? I think I must be.</i>
</p><p>*********</p><p>Jamie had been dreaming indeed and woke up once again realizing that he wasn’t a wee lad anymore, and that his godfather had not been with him.</p><p>“Ghoistidh..”</p><p>It had just been a tiny whisper. Too quiet to be heard by anyone but Jamie himself. He felt his eyes burning, not knowing if the memory caused the tears in his eyes or the pain of his pounding head. He thought to himself that it must have been both.</p><p>He missed his Godfather dearly. Jamie grew up mostly with him. Murtagh Fitzgibbons Fraser, the man Jamie looked up to most of all, was lost. He had disappeared 8 years ago, while on a hike in the Highlands. Jamie remembered the last words he heard escaping his Godfather’s mouth:</p><p>“Take care of ye lad. We’ll see each other verra soon.”</p><p>Back then he thought it was no more than a simple farewell. But being older now, Jamie regretted not holding him back that day.</p><p>The ride went on for some more time. Jamie had been awake for a bit now. A sudden thought crossed his mind, is this how Laoghaire feels now? The way he felt when Murtagh left? He had left her with child.</p><p>A sudden feeling of guilt filled his entire body and he knew he had to get back to his car as soon as he could. Get away from those strange men, living like people in the past. He had a bairn coming. His bairn. A sudden wave of joy filled his chest and his body got warm. How could he have not been happy the moment Laoghaire had mentioned she was with child? The joy he felt now should have been there when his wife told him the wonderful news.</p><p>Jamie wanted to rise from his laying position but failed terribly on the first attempt.</p><p>The men hit him hard on the head. Maybe a tiny bit too hard, because just the next minute he fell back asleep.</p><p>The next time Jamie woke the ground wasn’t moving, and the rain did not fall on his face anymore. The noise of the men increased as they were in a tiny cottage. Jamie felt the wooden floor beneath him, as hard as ever. Trying to move his hands to his head to ease the pain, he realized that they were stuck. They had tied him up.</p><p>“Lemme go!”</p><p>Finally. His vocal cords gained back their strength and the sound of the men talking decreased. He didn’t know how many pairs of eyes were starring back at him, but he did not like the feeling of it.</p><p>“Oh the laddie has woken.”</p><p>The man that spoke looked tiny. A gap in his teeth, hair to his shoulders. He did not look clean at all; none of them did. Jamie got a weird feeling in his stomach. He looked around. Candles. No electricity. He did not once recall the sound of a motor on their journey. Well maybe he had just been too unconscious to hear it?</p><p>“Why am I tied up? Lemme go to my wife!”</p><p>Jamie tried to loosen himself, without any success.</p><p>“Why should we let ye go eh?”</p><p>A tall bold man had walked close to Jamie. There was something about him, but Jamie couldn’t quite tell what.</p><p>“I must return to my wife. She’s with child.”</p><p>The men looked at each other but did not make any attempt to release him.</p><p>“Why are ye holding me prisoner?” Jamie asked, looking seriously at the men, his racing thoughts about Laoghaire worrying him further. </p><p>He could see her. She was probably looking outside the window, waiting for him to return, to apologize and look forward to their future together, with their child. He swallowed hard at the thought of this vision.</p><p>“Ye are dressed in no tartan, but still ye are a Scot walking through the Highlands. Yer clothing, I havena quite seen something like that. And yer blathering about a.. a.. what was it ye were looking for?”</p><p>“My car!”</p><p>Jamie had enough. What was wrong with his clothes? It wasn’t his fault that he did not wear the Fraser Tartan. It was 1945. No one wore kilts anymore. Except those strangers he had been with for the last hours.</p><p>“I dinna ken what a car is, but..”</p><p>The bold tall man got interrupted.</p><p>“Dougal, the lassie is waking up!”</p><p>It was now, that Jamie realized he wasn’t the only prisoner amongst those men. In the opposite corner, there was a woman, also dressed in 18th century clothing, hands tied above her head. Her brown hair was curled around her beautiful face and the candlelight illuminated her beautiful face. All the men, including Jamie looked at her.</p><p>“What are you bastards looking at?”</p><p>
  <i>A Sassenach.<i></i></i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>Jamie thought to himself. An English woman amongst all those scots men. He felt like he had been dreaming all along. This couldn’t be real. He imagined that he would just wake up in the next few minutes, next to his pregnant wife. He imagined that they would eat breakfast together; he would talk to his bairn, still growing in his wife’s belly.</i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>Yes, that must be it. Just a silly dream.</i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>Even though Jamie knew that deep down, this couldn’t be a dream. It had been too realistic. But there still was a tiny hope he held on to.</i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>-</i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>Claire woke from her sleep. Those men again staring at her. It was her third month amongst them, and she had had quite enough of their nasty gazes every time she woke from her sleep.</i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>Claire was raised in Oxfordshire, being called to Scotland to help the English at Fort William after their healer had died. One morning when she was collecting herbs, she had been abducted by the group of Scots she had now been with for the last few months of her life. And she did not like it one bit.</i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>“Be quiet!” she got as an answer from one of the men for not holding her tongue.</i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>Claire sat herself up and looked around. She now looked across the room, at the red-haired man, who had been tied up just like her. <i>What was he wearing?!</i> This was her first thought, but it quickly disappeared, once she saw the beauty of this man. Blue eyes, looking back at her; the proportions of his face were just perfect. She was mesmerized, and for the first time in a long time, she was speechless.</i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>-</i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>Jamie had looked at the woman across from him, at a loss for words. He could see she felt the same. But the gaze didn’t last long when the door suddenly opened, followed by a short silence.</i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>Jamie couldn’t see who entered the cottage from his position on the floor. The man came closer and all of a sudden Jamie heard a very familiar voice in Gaelic.</i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>“O mo dhia, is e mo dhiason a th ‘ann”</i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>Jamie looked up. Speechless. His breath taken away. All he could say was.</i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>“Ghoistidh.”</i>
  </i>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thank you to my Beta Kris (kristinaw66 on Twitter) for helping me from this Chapter on with this fanfic. And thank you all for reading! I hope you liked this Chapter. &lt;3</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Missing Godfather</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Jamie wants to go back through the stones with the help of Murtagh. But will it be that easy?</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It had all happened very quickly. Jamie could not collect his thoughts. He didn’t know what was going on. Was he dreaming? Not knowing where he was, meeting those strange men after the incredible experience he had at the standing stones, and now seeing his long missing Godfather after thinking about him so much more than usual? He stared at him. A tiny man, brown hair, tied into a ponytail at the nape of his neck. His beard covered half of his face and he also wore 18th century Highlander clothing.</p>
<p>Everything in Jamie’s field of vision seemed to blur, he could only focus on the man standing right in front of him. On the man he adored like a father. He didn’t realize that by then, the tears were already streaming down his face. Murtagh knelt down to Jamie, his face also covered with the saltiness of tears.</p>
<p>Jamie could only repeat the word he had said before.</p>
<p>
  <i>“Ghoistidh..”</i>
</p>
<p>The both of them looked at each other, taking in every year they had missed with each other. Then after a while they realized that they were still surrounded by the other men.</p>
<p>“Come up lad. Let us go outside and talk there.”</p>
<p>And with this they left the cottage, sitting in the green grass, still looking at each other.</p>
<p>“Jamie, I am so verra happy to see ye. I have no words to express my feelings.”</p>
<p>Jamie’s mind was spinning. All those years he suffered and missed his Godfather, he had just been here? Did he give Jamie up to live amongst these strangers?</p>
<p>“Ye got explaining to do.”</p>
<p>Jamie wanted an explanation, now. He thought he couldn’t feel happy, yet at the same time he was. There was too much happening in his life at the moment, and his emotions could not rest. He saw his godfather’s gaze on him, nervous and shaky, unsure where to start.</p>
<p>“Jamie, I could not live the life I was, I had to travel through the stones at the hill of Craigh Na Dun. Get back to THIS time. I have fought hard to get where I am now. And I am verra sorry to have left ye. But I had to do this for meself.”</p>
<p>Travel. Hill. Craigh Na Dun. THIS time. Left ye.</p>
<p>Those were the words that had stayed in Jamie’s mind. He lifted his head, looking in the eyes of the man he once looked up to.</p>
<p>“This time?”</p>
<p>Murtagh looked at him, confused.</p>
<p>“Aye. Jamie, it is the year 1743. Just two years away from the Battle of Culloden happening.”</p>
<p>Jamie looked at Murtagh as if he’d just read him a story from a book. He couldn’t keep himself from laughing. He laughed and kept laughing until his stomach hurt and he had to calm down. But his Godfather still looked seriously at him, rather concerned, and not even a simple grin showed on his bearded face.</p>
<p>Suddenly Jamie looked at him, now serious as well.</p>
<p>“Ye are shitting me? Is that what the stones did?! A Dhia! I have a wife! She is expecting a bairn. And now I am supposed to live amongst strangers in the past? She must be worrit sick! Look I already regret acting like an arse, walking away from my responsibilities. I must go back through the stones! I must get back back to my wife and my bairn! And you are helping me.”</p>
<p>Murtagh now looked even more confused.</p>
<p>“Ye’re telling me you did no come here on purpose?” the tiny man said. His happiness at seeing his Godson now completely absent.</p>
<p>“No! I found the stone circle, touched the tallest sone and then was abducted while looking for my car! And here I am, among men who hold a woman captive, wear weapons on their bodies, and my Godfather is telling me I traveled through some stones 200 years into the past, leaving behind my wife and bairn in 1945?!”</p>
<p>Jamie completely lost it. He couldn’t process the words he was hearing. He was hurt. Hurt by the fact that his Godfather left him on purpose. The last words he’s heard from Murtagh back then now made so much more sense. He’d known.</p>
<p>“I have a life now. A wife I met just a few years back. I was foolish and walked away from her after she told me she’s with child. I ken this was a big mistake and I would take it back right away. But now I am trapped here, and I have to get back through these stones. Please Ghoistidh.”</p>
<p>Murtagh wanted to help his Godson. He listened carefully letting him talk about the years he had missed. He regretted not being able to attend Jamie’s wedding, the biggest day of his life. Not seeing him at his happiest, promising the woman he loved to be with her forever. He felt guilt creep up on him.</p>
<p>“I will help ye. This much I owe you at least. I am so verra sorry.”</p>
<p>“I missed ye so much.”</p>
<p>That is all Jamie could reply to him and they embraced each other silently. Both were conscious of the tears dripping down their cheeks in the silence, and all Jamie was able to think was whether he could bring himself to say goodbye again to this man he loved so much.</p>
<p>They released themselves from the embrace but before they could move, they were interrupted by a scream.</p>
<p>Jamie’s heart hurt. He couldn’t understand why. Then suddenly he remembered. It was the same scream he heard at the stone circle. It was the same scream that made him raise his hands to the tallest stone, then touch it. And this scream now came out of the cottage he’d just left with his Godfather.</p>
<p>Immediately he jumped to his feet, alarmed. Murtagh looked at him confused.</p>
<p>“What is the matter with ye, Jamie?”</p>
<p>“The scream. What are they doing to the woman? <i>The Sassenach?</i></p>
<p>Murtagh eyed him suspiciously.</p>
<p>“Do ye know the lass? Or why is it ye’re worrying this much about her?”</p>
<p>Jamie thought about the words just asked of him. He had no answer to his Godfather’s question. Without another word he went back into the cottage and saw Claire sitting on the floor.</p>
<p>“Are ye alright lass?”</p>
<p>Claire looked at him.</p>
<p>“Yes! Just one of those bastards can’t look out! He stepped on my leg while being his drunk self. Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ.”</p>
<p>She was still tied up and could not even rub her aching leg. The footprint on her dress was visible and Jamie didn’t hesitate long before untying her. The men were speechless, just watching the scenario before their eyes. Dougal stepped forward, getting Jamie up by his shirt, as he leaned down to untie Claire.</p>
<p>“And now tell me what do ye think ye are doing lad?”</p>
<p>“She is hurting. Ye canna let the lassie suffer! She won’t escape! And if she did, she doesna stand a bit of a chance.” </p>
<p>This was enough for Dougal to let Jamie go and he simply nodded. Claire still held her aching leg, now with her dress up.</p>
<p>“You bastards can look where you’re walking. It hurts like hell.”</p>
<p>“Mind yer tongue lassie!” said one of the men called Rupert, the one who had caused her injury.</p>
<p>“You first mind your step and we can talk about it again.”</p>
<p>Rupert didn’t seem to find much interest in Claire after that, and decided to go for a piss outside.</p>
<p>Jamie, once free from Dougal’s grip, found himself again kneeling down to Claire.</p>
<p>“Are ye alright, <i>Sassenach?</i></p>
<p>Claire looked up at him, her pain suddenly easing. She nodded shortly, focusing on the man that had helped her. She was thankful. Claire was still busy rubbing her leg, but her stare remained on Jamie’s face. She couldn’t look away and neither could he.</p>
<p>“Yes. I’m alright. Thank you.”</p>
<p>“My name is Jamie, Jamie Fraser.”</p>
<p>“Claire. Claire Elizabeth Beauchamp.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thank you everyone for reading. Your comments and love mean a lot to me &lt;3 Also a big thank you to my beta Kris! You are amazing!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. A Mess of Lies</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Laoghaire is not the woman Jamie thinks she is. It all is indeed, a mess of lies.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <i>1945</i>
</p><p>It was the third morning after Jamie’s disappearance. Laoghaire was still doing the dishes from last night’s dinner. She didn’t have the energy to fully clean up right afterward. When she cleared up the <i>second</i> plate, she got ready for class.</p><p>She studied history, as she had always been interested in the past. But not only had she been excited to go to school to learn more, she also had a certain interest in her professor <i>Frank Randall.</i></p><p>As Laoghaire left for school, she took the bus, and chose a window seat. She looked outside the window and got lost in her thoughts for the next twenty minutes on her way to campus.</p><p>After thanking the bus driver, she went inside, the first one to arrive. On purpose she had chosen to get there one hour before class started.</p><p>There he was. <i>Professor Randall.</i></p><p>“Good morning, Frank.”</p><p>Laoghaire’s voice was smooth and she saw him turning around. There still was something she had to tell him, and she knew today would be the perfect day to do so.</p><p>“Good morning, beautiful. Yesterday was lovely.”</p><p>Not only had she cheated on Jamie over the past few months, no she also lied about the paternity of the baby. </p><p>The father had been no one else than the man that called her beautiful just a few seconds ago.</p><p>What a mess she was in! She had feelings for both men.</p><p>
  <i>1743</i>
</p><p>Claire was still speechless after interacting with the man that had freed her a few minutes ago. She was finally allowed to stand up and look around the cottage.</p><p>“Jamie lad, are ye sure she shouldna been tied up?”</p><p>Jamie’s Godfather looked at him with a tiny bit of concern.</p><p>“Nae, she willna do any harm to anyone, I’ll make sure of that.”</p><p>Claire looked at him thankfully. The marks on her wrist were completely dark red and the throbbing in her wrists continued even after the rope left them.</p><p>“She will ride with ye. We don’t have time. Colum is expecting us in two days.”</p><p>Dougal looked at Jamie when he said the first sentence, then glanced at the others as he finished speaking. Everyone agreed, even Jamie after getting a reassuring look from Murtagh.</p><p>-</p><p>It was raining during the ride, and Jamie felt Claire shivering from the cold, despite being covered it what seemed to be many layers.</p><p>
  <i>Her skin must be beautiful…No, hold it together Fraser, ye have a wee bairn coming and this isna yer time. And yer wife must be worrying herself sick.</i>
</p><p>Still, he wrapped his arms tighter around her, in order to give her share some of his body heat.</p><p>She leaned onto him thankfully and he got a warm feeling around his heart. His mind raced, thinking about the woman he had left, and the woman now sitting in front of him, relying on him and his body warmth to make it through the cold and wet ride.</p><p>He can’t do this to Laoghaire. He has a future with her, and how can he abandon his own bairn? His godfather promised to get him back through the stones, so he could leave this life behind him and return to the future, to the world where he belongs. He would at least have the comfort of his child. His own flesh and blood, and love for the bairn’s mother. They would be happy, just as they were before he travelled through those stones.</p><p>“Are you alright?”</p><p>An angelic voice ripped him out of his thoughts, and he realized that it came from Claire.</p><p>“Aye, are ye a bit warmer, Sassenach?”</p><p>He felt her body tighten up when he had spoken her nickname but she smiled lightly.</p><p>“Yes, thank you.”</p><p>He saw her head turning a bit but also noticed her gaze trying to remain on the road, trying to keep her balance while moving.</p><p>“I’m verra happy to hear that, Claire.”</p><p>The tone of his voice changed, and he couldn’t explain why. <i>Focus Fraser, focus.</i></p><p>He decided to be quiet the rest of their ride, focusing on leaving with Murtagh to return to the life he used to live. This was largely because he was afraid that the more he talked to this woman who was so close to him, his feelings for the woman so far away would slowly fade.</p><p>They set camp in the woods, further away from the road. Jamie’s clothes were soaked but he had nothing else to wear. The man called Dougal lent him a blanket which he took with a thankful glance.</p><p>“Ye’re sleepin wi’ the Sassenach, Jamie.”</p><p>He looked perplex to Dougal.</p><p>“What? Why me?”</p><p>“Ye wanted to take her along. Now she is your duty.”</p><p>And he knew he was not allowed to say any more words.</p><p>He waited outside the tent, asking for permission to enter.</p><p>“Don’t be shy, I don’t bite.”</p><p>He smiled at the words, and entered.</p><p>“I thank ye, Sassenach.”</p><p>He looked at her. Her head was tilted downward, her eyes staring at the ground. But when he thanked her, she looked up shyly. He could swear he saw a tiny smirk on her face. He took in the beauty of her face at this instant and he realized after a few seconds that he was still staring at her.</p><p>
  <i>Fraser, what are ye doing?!</i>
</p><p>“I willna sleep, you get some rest Sassenach. We will just have a few hours.”</p><p>She only nodded slightly as she saw that Jamie didn’t give her much of a choice. And there he was, looking at her as her eyes slowly closed after just a few minutes, and her mind drifted away into a resting sleep. She looked beautiful, her brown curls slightly tousled on her face, but not enough to cover it completely. Her lips curled around the edges, making it look like she fell asleep with a smile.</p><p>
  <i>God.. Sassenach, ye are a sight for sore eyes.</i>
</p><p>Jamie knew he shouldn’t think like that. But he also knew that the time would come when he would go back through the stones, so why not enjoy the sight of the most beautiful woman he had ever seen?</p><p>-</p><p>After a few days Claire arrived with the men at Castle Leoch, on the lands of the MacKenzie Clan. Colum, the Laird of this castle, accepted Jamie with open arms, due to his being Godson of Murtagh and his household decided to hold a feast in his honour.</p><p>While Jamie had been celebrated, Claire had gotten rather strange stares, and only understood the word “Sassenach” beneath the Gaelic mumblings. She felt uncomfortable and sat aside with a glass of Whisky, trying to be as quiet as possible, while watching Jamie.</p><p>
  <i>He is rather beautiful. Hold it together Beauchamp, he is wearing a wedding ring. But where is his wife?</i>
</p><p>She thought to herself that this woman must be a lucky one. A very lucky one indeed.</p><p>-</p><p>
  <i>1945</i>
</p><p>Laoghaire finished studying at home, rubbing her belly, talking to the wee bairn growing inside of her.</p><p>She was in the mood to leave the house, so she took her car and left for the Highlands. All of a sudden she stopped, seeing Jamie’s car on the spot she had wanted to park. Then it dawned on her.</p><p>Getting out of the car, she couldn’t stop staring at the top of the hill, knowing what would await her if she’d just walk up there. Too shocked to climb the hill, she only managed to whisper.</p><p>“You are a traveler too, James Fraser.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I am SORRY to leave you off like this... :D i hope you enjoyed it! A HUGE thank you again to my BETA Kris! I couldn't do this without you.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Decisions</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Jamie has to make a decision and Claire has a talk with the Laird.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <i>1945</i>
</p><p>Laoghaire stared at the hill. She must admit she is quite relieved to find Jamie’s car. This means there had been a clear explanation for his disappearance after all. As far as Laoghaire knows, Jamie never spoke about the stone hill of Craigh Na Dun. She expects this was all a big accident.</p><p>She couldn’t hide her smile, now knowing that Jamie didn’t leave her on purpose. Something deep inside telling her, that he will come back so they can raise the bairn together.</p><p>She decided to drive back home. While she parked her car at the side of the street, she noticed Frank’s car nearby, and saw him in front of her door. He didn’t take the news of her pregnancy as she’d expected and seeing him now on her doorstep just made this whole situation even more nerve wracking.</p><p>Laoghaire stepped out of the car, protectively holding her arms over her belly. She kept her distance and looked up at Frank who was just turning around to leave. Abruptly he looked down at her, his gaze following her hands which were wrapped around her belly. She remembered when she told him about her being pregnant, which didn’t go as planned.</p><p>
  <i>”Frank, we are expecting a bairn.”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Laoghaire smiled at Frank, waiting for him to break out into a smile as well, but instead he’d stared at her, speechless, and his face filled with anger. With nothing more than a tiny grunt, he had stormed off, just like Jamie did when she told him.</i>
</p><p>“You are not going to raise that child, Laoghaire. I cannot risk losing my career due to making a stupid mistake.”</p><p>She couldn’t believe the words that escaped Frank’s lips. Anger started to surge up in her and before it could break lose in the middle of the street, in earshot of all her neighbors, she walked past him. She put the key into the lock, turned it, and opened the door.</p><p>“We can talk about this inside, Frank.”</p><p>He followed her without saying anything else. The moment Laoghaire closed the door she turned around, facing the man in front of her.</p><p>“I will raise my bairn, Frank. Wi’ Jamie. There is something I didn’t tell you about. I told Jamie it is his. I wanted to raise the bairn wi’ him.”</p><p>She swore she could see enormous relief on Frank’s face, which filled her with a feeling of utter disgust. How could someone treat their own flesh and blood like this?!</p><p>“Good! I don’t want to have anything to do with this child, nor will I pay a single pound for you or <i>it</i>.”</p><p>Laoghaire’s eyes started to burn, and she knew that from today forward, Frank would not be any more than her teacher. She had to end what she’d had with him all those months and with the thought of that, the tears just rolled down her face. She turned away from him.</p><p>“Please leave, Frank. I canna bear the sight of ye right now.”</p><p>She didn’t have to tell him twice, and just a few seconds later she heard the door closing behind her. Surrounded by the silence that followed, she couldn’t help but sob. What if she had lost Jamie too?!<br/>
-</p><p>
  <i>1743</i>
</p><p>Weeks had passed and Claire started to like being at Castle Leoch. She didn’t want to admit that the reason for this was the red-haired Scot they have found on the road just a few weeks back. Claire started working as their healer as Colum, the Laird of the Castle, asked her to do. At first, she wanted to escape, since she felt like she didn’t belong here, but now she even had made a friend in Geillis Duncan.</p><p>Geillis was a beautiful woman, her hair red, long and silky. The way her hair fell was the opposite of Claire’s. While Claire’s wild curls went just about everywhere, including in her face, Geillis’ hair fell straight over her shoulders. Claire was just a tiny bit jealous of that, as she had to fight to get her hair into any placement she liked.</p><p>While spending time in the herb garden, just like so many other days, Claire was notified by a woman named Mrs. Fitz that the Laird was looking for her. Claire wiped her hands nervously on her skirt, swallowed and made her way to Colum.</p><p>She knocked and, after hearing the voice calling her in, looked around the door nervously. What could she expect? Would she be sent back? Will answers finally be given to her about why she had been brought here?</p><p>“Claire Beauchamp.”</p><p>Colum said while looking at her, waiting for her to curtsy, which she did. He kept staring and the silence between them felt like an eternity.</p><p>“How can I help you. Are you hurt?”</p><p>She had to break the silence somehow. This was the first thing that came into her mind.</p><p>“Nae, have a seat.”</p><p>He gestured to the chair in front of his wooden desk, and Claire took a seat, still not knowing what was going on.</p><p>“My men have brought you to my castle as guest of the Clan MacKenzie. But of course they told me why they took you prisoner at first.”</p><p>Claire listened carefully to the man in front of her. After all he was talking about the subject that was most interesting to her over the past few months. <i>And, no one had ever told her why.</i></p><p>“Yes, I always wanted to know why they just abducted me out of nowhere. None of your men could give me the right answer. I assume you can.”</p><p>A slight smirk showed on the man’s face.</p><p>“Aye, I can.”</p><p>A short silence filled the room once again, leaving Claire looking at him impatiently. Colum smiled and started.</p><p>“When they started their journey, I asked them to bring me a Sassenach spy so that I could get word of the English’s doing. But they brought me no more than a healer. But still you know far too much of those idiots for me to return ye to the English. That is why I keep ye here until I know for sure what to do with ye.”</p><p>Claire couldn’t believe what she heard. She had been there in order for the Scots to find out secrets of the English?</p><p>“Why did you choose a woman for that, a woman that just had been looking for plants outside the Fort?”</p><p>He looked at her, mumbling words in Gaelic.</p><p>“Because they are no more than wee idiots, Mistress. Now you will be welcomed here as my guest, until I know for sure that I can let ye go back to yer own folk wi’out you spilling bits an’ pieces of the men’s secrets. Also ye will be using Beaton’s Chamber for yer healings, to have a proper place for the tendings of yer people.”</p><p>She didn’t know how to answer to that. She was glad he kept her as guest. She didn’t want to go back, because she saw how the people here looked after each other with no doubts, while at the Fort she had been treated horribly.</p><p>The men at Fort William treated women disgustingly and Claire shuddered at the thought, erasing the memories as fast as they came.</p><p>“Thank you, deeply, for keeping me here as your guest. I am very grateful for your hospitality.”</p><p>He nodded and raised himself from his chair; she did the same. She curtsied to let him know that she was leaving the room. Before she got to the door, she heard his voice once again.</p><p>“Oh, and Mistress Beauchamp, I would like ye to massage me, for my legs, ye ken?”</p><p>She smiled slightly and nodded. Once she left the room, she began breathing normally again. She was relieved, and realized it was because she didn’t have to go back to her own people.</p><p>-</p><p>Jamie and Murtagh were talking to each other at the stables. Jamie, now dressed in 18th century clothing, couldn’t ignore the pride in his Godfather’s eyes every time Murtagh looked at him. But Jamie ignored this, as his main focus was still on going back.</p><p>“Tonight we are going, Goistidh. To the stones, I have to go back, to my wife and my bairn.”</p><p>Jamie was brushing the mane of the horse next to him. He saw, the facial expression of the man near him change when he said it.</p><p>“Aye, I will help ye and I will ride with ye Jamie. I will tell Colum I have some business I need to tend to and that I will need ye.”</p><p>Jamie nodded, his faith increasing, knowing he would soon be home.</p><p>“Ye go to give yer word to Colum and I will prepare the horses.”</p><p>Jamie couldn’t wait any longer. It was now a month that he had been here. His mind was racing with thoughts of Claire. He avoided her on purpose these last few weeks, as his main goal was returning to his own time, to his wife and his bairn which was on the way. He couldn’t bring himself to tell her, but she made it hard to keep his secret, as she was always around.</p><p>While Murtagh left to give word to Colum, Jamie prepared the horses. He felt a sudden presence behind him. He turned around to look again into those beautiful Whisky eyes.</p><p>“Sassenach.”</p><p>She looked around, realizing what he was doing.</p><p>“Jamie, are you leaving?”</p><p>He looked around, not knowing what to say. He saw her cheerful expression turning into a sad one.</p><p>“Aye, I will leave with my Godfather. He has asked me to help him wi’ something. He will give word to Colum and off we go.”</p><p>She nodded, then looked up into his eyes.</p><p>“Will you come back, Jamie?”</p><p>She looked at him, filled with hope. He couldn’t break her heart, nor could he stand to see the face in front of him lose faith. So, he nodded.</p><p>“Aye Sassenach, I will be back sooner than ye think.”</p><p>Her lips curled up into a smile. She kissed his cheek, said a short “Be careful, Jamie Fraser.”, and left the stables.</p><p>At least now he’d know that in the last moment with her he’d seen her smile. And Jamie knew that he would carry that smile around with him in his heart to brighten him up on dark days.</p><p>
  <i>Oh Sassenach, you will always be with me.</i>
</p><p>He was shaking his head to get the thought out of his mind and saw Murtagh returning with some goods from the kitchen. He knew the good Mrs. Fitz wouldn’t let them go without provisions. As Jamie finished preparing the horses, he and Murtagh got on them and looked at each other. His godfather saying words not even Jamie knew the answer to.</p><p>“Are ye ready, Jamie?”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thank you all so much for your lovely comments! They mean so much to me. And thank you once again to Kris, my beta. You are amazing!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Journey</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Jamie is going on a journey with Murtagh while Claire is seeking help from Geillis.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jamie was travelling for the past day with his godfather in an attempt to reach his destination as soon as possible. But leaving behind the place he’d spent the past month was harder than he thought. He started to like the people around him, the freedom of some people that just found themselves living in the moment, and Claire. <i>Oh, Claire.</i> He saw her in his head standing in front of him, her curls in her face, smiling while they rode for another few hours, coming closer to the stone circle that would bring Jamie back to his time.</p><p>After they had set camp, Murtagh lit the fireplace for them to cook the birds they hunted along the way. After finishing up, Jamie looked at his godfather who, as usual, could always read his mind.</p><p>“Lad, I ken ye do not want to go back, but yer wife and yer bairn are calling.”</p><p>Jamie could see how much it pained his godfather to say that, knowing Murtagh wished he could spend some more time with him. But he also knew that the tiny man in front of him was right, and nodded.</p><p>“Aye, I ken that well.”</p><p>After the men had a good night’s sleep, they woke early, and mounted their horses, traveling for the last few hours before reaching the stone circle of Craigh Na Dun. Jamie dismounted his horse and walked slowly to the circle, feeling dizzy. Both of them held their heads, as they felt the tension of the stones.</p><p>“I never liked that feeling.” Murtagh’s face had now even looked grumpier than before. He kept a safe distance, so as to not get stuck in that trance-like state which could lead him to touch the stone.</p><p>Jamie, while staying as quiet as possible, turned to look at his godfather. He knew that once again he had to bid him farewell. He walked towards Murtagh and hugged him as tightly as possible, trying to ignore the sting in his eyes. Jamie swallowed his tears and released Murtagh from the hug.</p><p>“Take care, a Goistidh.” Jamie tapped on Murtagh’s shoulder as he walked towards the circle, repeating what he did just a month ago.</p><p>This time it was different. He didn’t hear a scream at all. He just got caught by the trance that spiraled out from the energy of the stone, and once again touched the tallest one. The stones gave him a feeling of spinning around, then feeling lost, and eventually passing out. And when he finally opened his eyes and didn’t find Murtagh with him, he knew he had travelled back through the stones, letting the tears down his face.</p><p>-</p><p>Claire already missed Jamie the moment she saw him ride away, but she kept his words close to her heart. <i>He will be back soon, Beauchamp.</i> She looked smiling at the plant in front of her but was torn from her thoughts when her friend Geillis stood beside her all of a sudden.</p><p>“Hello my friend.” she said, a tiny giggle escaping from her throat.<br/>
Claire greeted her with a small smile. Something comforted her when she had Geillis around, but she couldn’t identify exactly what it was.</p><p>Both women spent the next few hours in the herb garden together, catching up about the latest news in Crainsmuir and Castle Leoch. They both broke out in laughter when Geillis told Claire about her husband’s farting like a bull. But suddenly Claire’s mood took a turn and her friend noticed.</p><p>“What is it, Claire?”, she saw Geillis looking at her with her fairy-like face.</p><p>“I-“ this was about everything she could manage to say. Claire didn’t know how far she could trust her new friend yet, but quickly learned that she was apparently easier to read than she’d ever realized.</p><p>“Ye miss the red-haired Scot, don’t ye?” and another giggle escaped from her. Claire looked at her in surprise and knew that she couldn’t hide it any longer, so she didn’t even try.</p><p>She told Geillis everything about how she couldn’t stop thinking about Jamie, but also how she couldn’t stop thinking about the ring that had been on his hand. Her friend listened as she kept talking. It felt good to talk, Claire thought to herself, and she enjoyed having a friend.</p><p>“About the ring, there isna anything we can do. But I can show you something. Come by my house tomorrow, Claire. I’m sure we can find something that will help.”</p><p>In the end, Claire was left confused by Geillis. The only thing she felt sure of was that she had fallen in love.</p><p>-</p><p>Jamie sat up, looking around and trying to get the ache in his head to ease by closing his eyes. After a bit he managed to stand up and walked down the hill. There he saw his car standing all alone where he had left it those weeks ago. Of course, he took back the clothing he had traveled with from the 20th Century. He went behind a tree to change, took the car keys out of the trousers where he had left them and drove all the way back, like he had never left.</p><p>He entered the house, and noticed that everything still looked quite the same, then he heard a door closing from upstairs.</p><p>“Laoghaire? Are ye there?” he looked upstairs for the blonde girl to appear, and she did. Tears were running down her face and her belly had grown a bit during the month he was gone. She walked downstairs and embraced him.</p><p>“I knew ye would come back to me, Jamie Fraser.”</p><p>He pressed her against her, softly but the image in his head was different. <i>Oh, Claire. How I wished it was you I embraced in this moment.</i> He forced himself to smile at her.</p><p>“Ye willna believe what happened to me. Is the bairn alright?”</p><p>He saw her smiling and she nodded.</p><p>“Aye, the bairn is alright. Where have ye been Jamie? I was worried sick.” Laoghaire knew where he had been, but she wasn’t ready to share her story just yet, afraid he wouldn’t forgive her for lying.<br/>
And so he told her. About the stone circle, about finding his godfather. He told her everything, except about the woman that he felt so connected with. He couldn’t tell his wife about her for fear he would let his emotions speak too freely. What mattered now was that he was there to see his child grow up with its father.</p><p>Jamie was surprised how well Laoghaire took his news. She believed him in an instant and there was nothing in the way to prevent them from raising their child together.</p><p>-</p><p>Months passed and Laoghaire’s belly had grown. She was now four months pregnant. Jamie went back to work in a distillery. The one he worked before had not taken him back, which wasn’t a big surprise for him, but luckily he found another, and it was very important for him to provide for his family.</p><p>He developed an interest in another topic- <i>Scottish History</i> - and he tried to research everything about it. Of course he could’ve also asked his wife, but he decided not to since he was looking for a certain name in his books. <i>I need to know if ye have lived a happy and long life, Sassenach.</i> The thought that she wasn’t alive anymore at the time of him looking for her in those books nearly ripped his heart out of his chest and different scenarios of her cause of death crossed his mind, leaving him with tears on his face.</p><p>The books that he had did not help him one bit. He was looking through a bunch of history books, death records and other articles. Then it occurred to him, that he could look through the books in his wife’s school library.</p><p>Since Laoghaire had class, he decided he could combine it with picking her up after her class with Professor Randall had finished.</p><p>He arrived at the library, with two hours left to do research. He came across a book called “Witcraft in the 18th century” and picked it up off the shelf. He didn’t know why but he looked through it. There was one article that caught his attention, and it was about Crainsmuir. He put his finger beneath the letters he was about to read.</p><p>
  <i>”On August 14th 1743, two women were accused of witchcraft in a town called Crainsmuir. The women faced a two-day trial, which ultimately resulted in their execution by burning at the stake.</i>
</p><p>Next to the article was a drawing in black and white of two women at the stake, beneath in cursive letters it said</p><p>
  <i>”(l.) Geillis Duncan, (r.) Claire Elizabeth Beauchamp.</i>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Alright I am sorry for the Cliffhanger but I also hope you like this Chapter! Thank you for sticking along through this whole fic! It means a lot. Also a special thank you to my BETA Kris, you are amazing!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. The Truth</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Jamie finds out something while Claire and Geillis receive an unpleasant surprise visit.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <i>1945</i>
</p>
<p>Jamie stared at the book in front of him and kept reading those two names over and over again, switching his shocked gaze every now and then upward to the painted picture. They have gotten her features completely wrong. This face didn’t look anything at all like the one he thought of every single day. What can he do? Is it possible to travel back through time to prevent Claire from burning at the stake? Did his leaving cause this to happen? Guilt began to creep up on him and he didn’t notice the tears burning in his eyes until some fell down onto his cheek.</p>
<p>Quickly he closed the book and wiped away his tears, looking around him to see if anyone was watching him. Luckily he was alone. Jamie wanted to stand up, but it wasn’t until this moment that he realized his legs wouldn’t support him. His hands were shaking and his eyes still burned with tears he now was now trying to hold back. In his mind he replayed the scream he had heard the day he first travelled through the stones. The scream that had torn his heart into a million pieces. A sudden realization crept into his mind. <i>He was supposed to change her fate. And now she died because he left.</i> But was he to blame? He returned to care for his child. To be with the woman he thought he had feelings for, his wife. Why could this woman, who had been dead for hundreds of years, make him forget about the life he once loved?</p>
<p>Jamie closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths, making sure he wouldn’t break down in tears in the middle of a school library. After collecting his feelings, he put back the book where he found it and walked outside as fast as he could, fumbling in his pocked for his car keys. He turned the key in the lock, opening the door for himself. The moment he sat in his seat he broke into tears, and sobs were escaping his lungs while his body was shaking. <i>She was dead. And he had lied to her, saying he would be back soon.</i></p>
<p>He couldn’t tell how long he’d been sitting there, grieving over the woman he left in the past, and thinking about what to do with the woman and child he held in the present. Jamie knew Laoghaire still had one hour left in her course, but he needed to take her home. He needed to be honest with her about what he is going through. He also knew that he had to come clean because he could no longer hide what he was going through.</p>
<p>Jamie checked Laoghaire’s schedule back inside the huge school building, trying to find her class. He was surprised when he saw that her class ended one hour ago. <i>Must be a printing mistake.</i> He decided to walk to the classroom where she should have finished – according to the schedule – an hour ago and knocked lightly on the wooden door in front of him. Jamie held his ear on the door after hearing two faint voices inside the room. He opened the door quietly, not interrupting and found that one of those voices was a very familiar one.</p>
<p>“Ye said ye dinna want anything to do with the bairn Frank. Now Jamie is back and you want to be in the bairn’s life?! I canna tell Jamie that the bairn isna his, it would break his heart. Are ye doing this to rub it in my face?”</p>
<p>Jamie heard himself swallow at those words and felt anger rising in his already heated body. His jaw was clenched, but he knew he had to remain quiet.</p>
<p>“I have a right to this child, Laoghaire. I’ve thought about everything, and I know I overreacted the other day. I missed you, beautiful. I missed you so much.”</p>
<p>Jamie saw Frank taking Laoghaire’s hands in his and also saw that she didn’t resist. <i>How long had she been lying?!</i> He knew he had to leave this instant or he would do something he would deeply regret. Escaping the building in seconds, Jamie chose to drive away. Laoghaire could take the bus. He couldn’t face her now. All their years had been lies but, worst of all, he left Claire to burn at the stake for the sake of a child that wasn’t his and a woman who didn’t love him.</p>
<p>He started his car, driving into the unknown, crying endless amounts of tears and sobbing loudly as the echoes of Claire’s screams haunted his memory. <i>Oh, Claire.</i> Suddenly he remember the date of Claire’s execution, <i> August 14th 1743</i>, and he knew that he left her on <i>July 14th</i>. But how does it work? How does time progress in the past? Would it be too late for him to save her? Would she already be dead when he arrived? Would he even be able to go back? So many questions, and Jamie had no answers to any of them.</p>
<p>After a few hours, seeming more like minutes to him, Jamie decided to drive back <i>home</i>, and saw Laoghaire upset on the couch. When he quietly entered he looked at her. He must have looked horrible. His eyes were swollen from crying, and his body ached from the tremors and shaking, leaving his muscles tense.</p>
<p>“Where have ye been, Jamie Fraser?! Ye were supposed to pick me up from school?”</p>
<p>He looked up to her, his eyes nearly empty but yet so full of rage. When he talked his voice was hoarse from all the sobbing.</p>
<p>“Oh, I have been to yer school, Laoghaire.”</p>
<p>Through his clenched jaw, his words were almost mumbled and the rawness of his vocal chords left his voice lower-pitched than usual. He saw Laoghaire stare at him with a question in her gaze, waiting for him to say more.</p>
<p>“I wanted to pick ye up a bit earlier, ye ken? Came by yer classroom, listening in to yer oh so wonderful talk with yer Professor Randall.”</p>
<p>His gaze never left hers and he could see the drastic change in her expession, which went from questioning to panicking, and now it was him waiting for her to answer.</p>
<p>“Jamie…I-“</p>
<p>“Dinna fash. I canna believe ye could do something like this. I will leave, tonight.” He could feel her hands gripping his wrists but he escaped them, trying not to be too harsh.</p>
<p>“Dinna touch me lass. I canna bear the sight of ye any longer.” </p>
<p>And with those words he packed up a few of his belongings and left, leaving behind a sobbing Laoghaire. He knew she could ask for comfort from the man that had gotten her with child.</p>
<p>-</p>
<p>
  <i>10 August 1743</i>
</p>
<p>It had been more than two weeks since Jamie left. Murtagh had returned after a week, without him. His explanation had been that Jamie returned to his wife. But he didn’t say more about it. Claire could see pain in the little man’s eyes and that pain was magnified in herself. <i>He won’t come back.</i></p>
<p>Claire found an escape in the herb garden of the castle and in her friend Geillis. The two of them had spent every day together since Jamie left, but there was still a hole in Claire’s heart which couldn’t be filled by Geillis’ friendship alone. <i>He lied to her.</i> She was angry, hurt and filled with sadness and she knew that feeling would not lessen anytime soon.</p>
<p>Today Claire was invited to Geillis’ house once again. They had both of them found a new plant which interested them. They wanted to find a use for it and Claire felt slightly excited. She rode to Cranesmuir and knocked on the wooden door, which was opened by her smiling friend herself. After they embraced each other, Claire went inside, quite intrigued about what they would learn about their mysterious plant.</p>
<p>“I’m so curious Geillis, I wonder what we will find out today.”</p>
<p>Her friend giggled and prepared everything, taking some books down from her shelf, and laying them next to the plant they would inspect in a few minutes. Claire had just opened one of the books in front of her, when she heard a loud hammering against the door.</p>
<p>“Geillis Duncan and Claire Beauchamp, ye both are arrested for the practice of witchcraft.”</p>
<p>Both women looked at each other in shock, unsure what to do next.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I'm one day late, I'm so sorry! I hope you enjoyed it. Thank you to my wonderful Beta Kris!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Burn the Witches</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Claire and Geillis face a trial while Jamie has to make a decision.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It all happened so fast, Claire was unable to clearly recall her memories of the event. She could hear her heart pounding in her chest, and her blood pulsing in her head. The words that had been spoken were still echoing in her memory and playing over and over again, until she began to feel madness creeping up on her. <i>A witch.</i></p>
<p>Claire tried to remember all the times she and Geillis could have thought of as suspicious to others, but still couldn’t find a moment which would have caused all of this. While looking around, she had seen no familiar faces, nor had she seen anyone she could rely on. She was all alone without a friend to help her.</p>
<p>With her mind racing, all she could hope was for Jamie to return, even though she had already lost that hope. Maybe he would come back for her after all and save her and she would not have to face the fate that was lying in wait. At that moment she looked up and saw the big stake in front of her which would burn along with her in just a few days. But first, they would have to face trial and all Claire knew was that it wouldn’t be a fun occasion.</p>
<p>Claire didn’t know that she fell asleep, but when she woke, she only saw darkness in front of her. She couldn’t even identify her own hands, and started to feel the cold and wet stones around her.</p>
<p>“Hello?” Her voice echoed a tiny bit, which indicated the place she was in wasn’t that large.</p>
<p>All of a sudden, she felt an ice-cold hand against hers and Claire jumped a bit, but relaxed in an instant when she heard her friend talking.</p>
<p>“Dinna worry, Claire. It is me.”</p>
<p>Claire began to breath rapidly, and she knew she’d be panicking if she couldn’t calm down. Once again, the blood pounded in her head and her mind started to get foggy. She heard every single heartbeat and felt each beat of her pulse in her throat. She didn’t want to die. She wasn’t ready. Not yet.</p>
<p>“Geillis, we have to get out.”</p>
<p>Her friend’s silence confirmed her darkest fear. <i>There was no way out.</i></p>
<p>After a while, Claire’s eyes started to get used to accommodate to the darkness she’d been in for the past few hours. What she saw was a dark pit full of wet and dark stones, a few rats and a hole above her head where they must have entered. Even though it was August, the rain made it a cold night and she covered herself as best she could with her own dress, her mind still racing about what was about to happen. <i>She would burn at the stake.</i></p>
<p>Even though Geillis made a few attempts to talk to Claire, Claire barely recognized the words coming out of her friend’s mouth; she was completely lost in her thoughts. To be honest, Claire wasn’t in the mood to talk to her at all. At first, she didn’t know why but the more she thought about the reasons, she knew. She was angry and hurt.</p>
<p>But the reason wasn’t the woman sharing the same fate she was. No, the reason was the man who had given her a promise to return and then broken it. She needed him now, but at the same time she also knew that she had no right to need him. Claire felt like she was trapped in a net of emotions and she didn’t know how to untangle it, and the more she tried to do so, the more complicated it got. <i>Maybe this is just how it is meant to be.</i></p>
<p>She knew it wasn’t. But what else was she to do? She had been accused of witchcraft, and tomorrow she would know why, but she also knew that the reason why wasn’t relevant in a case like this anymore. No matter what, she would lose and burn at this stake.</p>
<p>-</p>
<p>Jamie arrived at an inn where he checked into a room. This whole story was a lot for him to process, but at the same time he also knew he didn’t have much time to think about his next steps. It was August the 10th, only four more days until Claire would face death, 200 years in the past. Could he prevent it? Could he change the past by going back? Is it even possible to travel once again to the exact same time and place? Should he just risk it? Not one answer to those questions came to him, but Jamie also knew that he couldn’t just lay there and do nothing.</p>
<p>Jamie poured himself a glass of whisky that same night, and all he could think about was that he has nothing left here anymore. No wife or bairn anymore, nor was his godfather. The woman he had met back there had haunted his memory from the day he first laid eyes on her. He could still describe every single detail of her, and the sound of her voice still echoed in his ears every single day. <i>Claire.</i></p>
<p>Jamie thought about her beautiful face, those whisky-eyes looking up at him, full of hope that he will return soon. Those beautiful brown curls falling everywhere if she didn’t put them up. When he remembered them, it made him want to brush them behind her ear so that he could have an unobstructed view of her face.</p>
<p>That’s when he knew. He couldn’t stay there, he needed to find her before it was too late. This woman had taken his heart and he wanted her. Now he had to fight for her.</p>
<p>Since Jamie had kept the clothes in which he travelled through the stones, he took them with him and left everything else in the room at the inn. He would disappear without a trace and no one would know where he was, and that was alright.</p>
<p>Jamie drove as fast as he could up the hill, the rain falling down hard on his windscreen making it hard for him to see clearly. But it was like the stones were calling him once again, as all of a sudden he was in the exact same spot he had parked his car the first time he was here. After getting dressed in his car, he got out now clothed in complete 18th century highlander garb, and he had to admit he felt proud.</p>
<p>With no hesitation he walked up the hill, until he found himself at the stone circle. The humming surrounded him once again, and there it was, <i>the scream.</i></p>
<p>It was <i>her</i> scream and it tore his heart in two, and it dawned on him that it was the scream of her being burned at the stake.</p>
<p>“I’m coming back, Sassenach. Dinna be afraid.”</p>
<p>And the next second he placed his hands on the tallest stone, making his whole world spin, leaving him only with the echo of her scream. When he opened his eyes he found himself once again back where he had left Murtagh.</p>
<p>“I will find ye, Claire.”</p>
<p>And with those words he made his way to Castle Leoch, in the hope his godfather could help him find Claire.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I'm sorry for letting you wait for so long. I'm so busy at the moment due to moving, but I promise I will get back on track soon.</p>
<p>Also thank you to my BETA Kris! You are wonderful!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Claire’s secrets</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Claire is reflecting upon her life and the choices she has made while awaiting her fate of burning at the stake.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>From what Claire was able to tell, she had spent one day in the cold dark hole with her friend Geillis Duncan. According to Geillis, they would face trial the moment the sun rose and the tiny amount of light that crept into the hole they were in made the details of the stones they sat on more visible.</p>
<p>As it was still as dark as night, Claire drifted off into her thoughts. How could she have managed to end up like this? A witch? All she wanted to do was return to those standing stones and find the flower she had seen but the male scream she heard forced her to touch the tallest one in the circle. She remembered that one day as if it had just been yesterday.</p>
<p>
  <i>1945</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>It was a warm day when Claire decided to take a walk through the Scottish highlands, as she had a lot to think about. Claire was no longer happy in her marriage as her husband cheated on her several times and enjoyed the presence of his students more than that of his wife. This wasn’t love anymore.</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>Claire moved with Frank to Inverness the moment he accepted a job at the university here, but the moment he started this position, she felt like an outcast.</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>The day before they got into a huge argument which caused Frank to leave and file for divorce.</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>”Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ Frank, will you bloody well say something? I know very well that you are fucking with those girls the moment they lay their eyes on you.”</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>She looked at her husband with disgust as she imagined him with any of his young students. They were interchangeable.</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>”Claire, I think it is best if we go our separate ways after all. Your jealousy of me pursuing my career has become unbearable. I really cannot handle this sort of thing right now. I think it is best if I leave this instant and let my lawyer send you the divorce papers. You are a big girl and will manage. I have to go to work now, once I’m back I’ll be happy to see you packing your things.”</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>He put his glass of orange juice on the table as an indication to Claire that he assumed she would clean it up. Her whisky-eyes stared at him in anger; she didn’t intend to say one word. She didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of feeling that he had won or even overruled her. Frank let out a sigh and left after a few minutes of silence, leaving Claire behind in a puddle of tears. She knew that they weren’t tears of sadness, but anger. How could she have let a man treat her like this for years? She was a strong independent woman who knew her way around life, but still had let herself be controlled by an asshole like Frank.</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>So Claire decided to go for a walk in the Highlands one last time. Taking in the beautiful sight of Scotland, a country that had stolen Claire’s heart the moment she moved there. The Highlands had been a calming place for Claire and she always ended up discovering new places and also new plants which captured her interest. Claire tried to find the medical use of plants and had been studying them for a while now. Even though she wasn’t that practiced yet, she felt how she got better with it and needed less help from of books. That particular day, she found herself in a new place. It was beautiful, if not breathtaking! If she wasn’t surrounded by the humming of bees, it would have been completely quiet.</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>She looked around, trying to find the bee nest but failed to spot it. She decided to walk up the hill as her intuition was telling her, and in that moment, she was happy she did. She had found one of the most beautiful stone circles she had ever seen. The tallest one caught her eye in an instant and she took in the beauty of it the moment she laid her eyes on it. She walked slowly, being careful to be able to see every single detail of those stones. With every step she now realized that also the humming of the bees had increased in volume and as she looked around her gaze suddenly focused only on the tallest stone, forgetting everything around it.</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>Claire’s mind was spinning, and she swore she could hear voices. Fighting, laughter and then a gut-wrenching yell from a man. This specific scream ripped her heart into pieces, and she could feel the tears in her eyes burning. Never had she heard such a scream. Without realizing, she raised both her hands and touched the tallest stone that called to her, leading her to the time she found herself in now. 1743.</i>
</p>
<p>Claire shook her head at the memory of this. She remembered exactly what had happened after she had found herself laying in front of that stone.</p>
<p>
  <i>Claire woke up, looking around, thinking that she had passed out from the loud sound that surrounded her. But deep down in her heart she knew, something more had happened than just her losing consciousness.</i>
</p>
<p>She now stared at the stars she could see through the tiny hole they entered this cave through and couldn’t help but shed some tears. She remembered how she tried to find the town, how she didn’t see any lights in the far distance, and then how she realized that she must have travelled to the past. Of course, she didn’t understand it all at that time and tried to process everything as well as she could. In her confusion then she didn’t think of going back to the stones and trying immediately to return, but also something kept her there. Deep down she still heard that scream and knew she couldn’t just leave yet.</p>
<p>Sitting in the darkness now made her reconsider that decision. Should she have just gone back? She still didn’t manage to find the man behind the scream that had brought her all the way to 1743. Or did she? The moment this thought crossed her mind, she thought of Jamie. Maybe it was him, but now he was gone.</p>
<p>
  <i>After spending a few days alone in the tiny cottage, she heard voices nearby. Hiding behind trees and bushes she walked closer and found two redcoats standing there, talking. Claire took a wrong step and heard a twig beneath her foot crack. She looked up in a panic and instinctively ran as fast as she could, hearing the hooves of the men’s horses behind her. The next thing she remembered was waking up in a dark cave where she must have found a place to hide from them, while panicking.</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>She made it, she escaped them. Also, she didn’t know how long she ran or how long she slept but only knew was it was dark, and the men were gone. The moment daylight shone into the cave, she decided to see where she had ended up. When she came towards the edge of the trees, there was a big field covered in flowers she had never seen before. She walked there, not noticing the large fort behind her, and the moment she almost reached the big field, she felt an object hit her hard over the head.</i>
</p>
<p>Claire touched her head, feeling the memory of the throbbing pain she had woken up with afterward. She also remembered the sweaty faces of the redcoats she saw the moment she opened her eyes. And she also remembered them treating her like an object, forcing her to work for them as a healer once they learned of her capabilities. And of course, she remembered the day she went to fetch some herbs and was abducted by the Scots.</p>
<p>As she was an Englishwoman being held captive by men who she didn’t trust, she came up with the tale that she had been a healer at Fort William, but omitted the rest of her history.</p>
<p>After replaying her whole story in her head, she saw that the sun was rising just beyond the entrance to the pit. And she realized what would happen. Today they would face trial, and Claire knew that some trials could go on for days. Every day now was a gift lengthening her life, and she decided with Jamie gone and nowhere else to go, she would ultimately be ready to face the flames which would turn her flesh to ashes.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>TADAAA!!! You guys waited long enough for Claire's secrets to be revealed and some of you guessed it already!! I hope you guys enjoyed this Chapter!<br/>Thank you to my BETA Kris!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. August 14th</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Will Jamie make it in time?</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><i>August 14th 1743</i> </p>
<p><i>”Burn the witches! Burn them!</i> </p>
<p>Claire’s mind was spinning. </p>
<p><i>”You shall burn witch!</i> </p>
<p>The voices didn’t stop and her mind became foggier with every scream that sounded next to her. She felt as if they were coming from miles away even as they burned themselves into her brain. Claire felt a firm grip on her arm as she was ripped away from her friend’s side by a tall stranger she had not noticed at the trial before. It would happen. She would burn next to her best friend, and there is no one who could safe her. </p>
<p>- </p>
<p>Jamie arrived at Castle Leoch. He’d managed to find a horse along the way and was glad he recognized the paths from the last time he had been here. <i>Today she would burn.</i> He felt a shudder through his whole body just from thinking of Claire being tortured that way. His godfather, Murtagh, was more than happy to see Jamie had returned. Jamie swore he even saw tiny tears in the corner of the little man’s eyes and he was happy to be back, as well. <br/>  <br/>So as to not lose any more time, Jamie told Murtagh what he had learned about Claire during the time spent back in 1945, and he promised to tell him everything about Laoghaire on their ride to save Claire. Once they rode away, Jamie told Murtagh all about Laoghaire’s betrayal, and that his wife was not the person he thought he knew, after all. </p>
<p>“I’m so sorry Jamie.” </p>
<p>“I left this time, to go back to her, even though Claire was still here, I-“ </p>
<p>It was at this moment that Jamie realized he had never talked about his feelings for Claire. He had never spoke out loud how much she meant to him, and how connected he felt to her after seeing her the first time. He couldn’t describe the feeling himself and his body only longed more for her touch the longer they were apart. He felt Murtagh’s gaze fall upon his face. </p>
<p>“You love her.” </p>
<p>Jamie looked up to see his godfather’s pair of eyes and couldn’t help but shed a few tears.</p>
<p>“Aye. I do. But I lied to her, and now I canna be there wi’ her. I ken she felt the same before I left but I needed to get to Laoghaire, I couldna do that to <i>my</i> bairn.” </p>
<p>“Jamie, you didna do anything wrong. The lass will forgive ye and we wills save her. Dinna worry lad.” </p>
<p>And so he trusted his godfather’s word, even as he still felt the heavy lump in his stomach grow bigger the more time that passed. <i>Was it already too late?</i> </p>
<p>- <br/>Claire looked over to her best friend Geillis, who was dragged onto the streets by another stranger. Some faces in the crowds were worried, others filled with fear, but the majority of them were smiling content that the women would face the fate they apparently deserved. Claire was afraid. She was afraid of the pain she would endure while her body slowly fell to ashes and she afraid she would smell every inch of her skin burning down to the bone.</p>
<p>Claire wasn’t afraid to die as she had not actually lived since she found out that Jamie lied to her. <i>Where did he go? Why couldn’t he just tell her the truth about where he went and why?</i> She decided once the flames from the stake reached her flesh, she would think of him so the pain of losing him would even out the pain of the flames searing her skin.</p>
<p>There were two stakes on the podium in front of her and Geillis. Claire looked to her best friend who stood to her right, the men still gripping both their arms as tightly as possible, for fear they would use some witchcraft to escape their large hands. <i>If it only were that easy.</i> The crowd was screaming impatiently, wanting them to be burned as quickly as possible, and as the volume of their screaming increased, she felt a push from the man holding her and his grip on her arms loosened. </p>
<p>Claire and Geillis now found themselves on their knees on the podium, starring down toward the screaming crowd in front of them. Claire felt her cheeks become wet from tears she didn’t realize were streaming down in her fear. She stood up with her remaining strength, only to feel sick and vomit on the podium. The next thing she realized was the smack to her cheek from the stranger whose grip was now tight around her arm once again. </p>
<p>“Ye disgusting piece of shit.” </p>
<p>Claire looked up into his eyes only to cry more. </p>
<p>“I curse you.” She raised her voice looking into the crowd in front of her. “I curse you all!” </p>
<p>She looked at Geillis who was screaming as the stranger who held her was already tightening the ropes around her ankles and wrists. Her frantic breathing was visible as her chest rose heavily up and down. </p>
<p>“Claire.” </p>
<p>“It’s alright, Geillis. Don’t be afraid.” </p>
<p>Claire tried to calm her best friend as much as she could. What would be her next step? Claire wasn’t someone to just give up but this was the first time she had found herself in a situation where she didn’t know what to do anymore. She couldn’t find a way out of this crowd.</p>
<p>A moment later, Claire found herself in the same predicament as her best friend and could no longer move her ankles and wrists. The men in front of them grinned at each other with deepest satisfaction and Claire’s sobs turned into a heart-breaking scream. </p>
<p>She saw the flames in front of her, waiting for the stranger to light the stake but the next moment Claire heard her name. </p>
<p>“Claire! Stop! Dinna touch her!” </p>
<p>Jamie dismounted from his horse and ran onto the podium where she and Geillis had stood for a while now. Murtagh was busy cutting the ropes binding Geillis to her stake while Jamie stood next to Claire. </p>
<p>She looked up into Jamie’s blue gaze, still feeling the shock of almost being burnt alive. </p>
<p>“Dinna be afraid, Sassenach.” </p>
<p>She saw him turn around and draw his sword at the men in front of him, while his godfather joined him.</p>
<p>“Those women are no witches, so I’ll thank ye to take yer hands off of them.” </p>
<p>Jamie’s voice had been firm and steady, but left the shocked Claire thinking that this had only been a dream. She didn’t realize a fight had started and the next thing she knew, she was being thrown onto a horse. She felt Jamie’s arms wrapped around her, and saw Geillis being held on Murtagh’s horse. They quickly rode off into the woods. </p>
<p>Jamie took Claire off to the side of Geillis and Murtagh to get a bit of privacy. She was sat on a fallen tree and Jamie knelt down in front of her. </p>
<p>“Sassenach, God. Are ye alright?” </p>
<p>His voice was filled with worry and his eyes filled with tears. </p>
<p>“Y-You left me, Jamie.” </p>
<p>She saw the tears lingering in the corner of his eyes, some falling down on both sides of his cheeks. </p>
<p>“I ken, Sassenach. I-I’m so sorry, when I heard your scream I-” </p>
<p>She realized that his chest was trembling and he had to hold back his sobs. <i>He really was sorry.</i> </p>
<p>“It’s alright, Jamie. Thank you for saving me.”</p>
<p>Claire felt his hand underneath her chin, lifting her head, only to look into his blue eyes which filled themselves with new tears while he whispered, “Dinna be afraid, there’s the two of us now.” </p>
<p>And the next thing she felt were his warm lips on hers and nothing else mattered any longer.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I am truly so sorry for this long wait. I have a serious writer block when it comes to this fic and I am totally honest with you. I have forgotten the amount of times I tried to write Chapter 11. I first wanted to post Chapter 10 only when I had Chapter 11 finished. But I haven't even started but still wanted you all to have a new Chapter.</p>
<p>I tried to write an Epilogue, a Chapter, i deleted and repeated this cycle so many times.</p>
<p>This is my first fic I have posted and it means a lot to me, but I don't know where it will take me. I will 100% finish it. Maybe with another Chapter or maybe with an Epilogue. But who knows, maybe I regain my inspiration and will be able to put a few more Chapters onto this fic.</p>
<p>I hope you all understand.</p>
<p>A huge thank you to my beta Kris who is always there to help!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Epilogue</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <i>Two years later</i>
</p>
<p>“Da canna wait to meet ye a leannan.”</p>
<p>Claire smiled at Jamie who was talking to her growing belly, as he did every morning. She looked outside through the window, dwelling in memories.</p>
<p>A few months ago when they learned that Claire was pregnant, they had made a decision which they both agreed on. <i>They would return to the future.</i></p>
<p>They agreed their baby was the most important thing in their lives and they though their little bean had a better future in this time.</p>
<p>Claire was stroking through Jamie’s red curls while he kept speaking to her belly for the next thirty minutes.</p>
<p>“Sassenach, I wouldna ever thought to say it so often, but I’m so verra happy.”</p>
<p>Claire nodded in agreement, looking dreamily at the man in front of her and appreciating every single second with him, touching him, and she knew she never wanted it to stop.</p>
<p>She looked at him, knowing that he wasn’t quite done talking and a tiny tingle in her stomach anticipated what he was going to say.</p>
<p>“You are the woman I want tae spend the rest of my life with, Claire. When I travelled through the stones and found ye, I felt something I never did before and I realized that I must have ye. I might have made the mistake of going back and then realizing that I was lied to by someone I once thought I loved. But you, Sassenach, have shown me what love truly is. Ye have given me more than I could have ever dreamt of.”</p>
<p>She looked at Jamie reaching into his pocket without this eyes leaving hers, now filled with tears.</p>
<p>“Will ye marry me, Claire?”</p>
<p>Claire had never felt this happy and content in her life than she did in this exact moment. When she heard his words, playing like a beautiful melody in her ears, she knew what the end question would be. And she already knew the only response to it.</p>
<p>She knew that eventually Jamie would ask her, but nothing could have prepared her for the emotions she felt. If someone would have told her after her divorce from Frank that she could ever find a man that would be worthy of her, she would have laughed. Then her journey through the stones only seemed to confirm that she wasn’t supposed to find her true love, but that was exactly what the trip gave her. <i>Everything she ever dreamed of.</i></p>
<p>“Yes!”</p>
<p>Tears were rolling down her cheeks as she kept repeating that one word that made Jamie smile more the more she said it. Then she felt the cool ring slide onto her finger and it felt as if it had always belonged there.</p>
<p>“It’s beautiful Jamie! I love you!”</p>
<p>“And I you.”</p>
<p>They sealed their love once again with a kiss. Claire put all her passion into it and she felt Jamie’s large hands around her waist, pulling her onto his lap.</p>
<p>Her breath quickened when she felt how ready he was for her and their tongues started a game the both of them wanted to never end.</p>
<p>Before she could take her next breath Jamie’s hands cupped around her breasts, making her nipples hard in a second.</p>
<p>All she wanted was him, right now. And she pulled his shirt over his head indicating that she couldn’t wait any longer.</p>
<p>“Impatient, I see”, Jamie grinned, and his voice was no more than a raspy sound that Claire loved so much.</p>
<p>With a nod she confirmed his words and before either of them knew, their clothes were lying next to them on the floor.</p>
<p>Claire traced every single line of his muscles with her index finger while she kissed him. She felt Jamie hard on her thigh and she knew it had to happen now.</p>
<p>“Do it now, and don’t be gentle.”</p>
<p>“I wasna planning on that, Sassenach.”</p>
<p>-</p>
<p>Out of breath, Claire looked at the man next to her and couldn’t believe how lucky she got. She felt Jamie’s hand stroking her belly once again. <i>He couldn’t wait to meet his child.</i></p>
<p>Claire couldn’t help but smile.</p>
<p>“What is it, Sassenach?”</p>
<p>“I’m just…happy, Jamie.”</p>
<p>He kissed her gently and nodded.</p>
<p>“Aye, me too.”</p>
<p>She cuddled into his arms and smiled, thinking about the years they’d spent together. About how they talked everything out after the witch trial, onto their conversation of going back to build a life together and have their child.</p>
<p>Going back brought sacrifices. Murtagh and Geillis stayed there, and it was hard for Jamie to say goodbye to his Godfather again, not knowing if he would ever be able to see him, knowing what was still to come. But he also knew that he now had his own little family to think about, and all he wanted was for them to be safe.</p>
<p>About Frank and Laoghaire they never heard a single word anymore, nor did Claire and Geillis ever find out why they had been accused of witchcraft. Someone had to have arranged for their arrest, but what truly mattered was that they were alright and safe.</p>
<p>Of course, no place could be a hundred percent safe, but they knew that giving birth would have been more risky in the past than now. Their baby would also have more options to choose from for its education and future than were available in the past.</p>
<p>“What are ye thinking about, Sassenach?”</p>
<p>“Just about the future and past and of our little wean and how we have chosen to come back here.”</p>
<p>“Do ye regret it?”</p>
<p>She heard the fear in Jamie’s voice and knew that all he wanted for her was to feel happy and home.</p>
<p>“No. I want our baby to have its best future. And giving birth in the 18th century isn’t easy. Also, if it’s a girl she will have much better options now than back then. I just want our child to be happy and healthy and I think that we belong here.”</p>
<p>Jamie nodded, kissing her stomach softly just before moving on to her lips.</p>
<p>“Sassenach?”</p>
<p>“Yes Jamie?”</p>
<p>She saw him smiling at her again, stroking her cheek with his fingers, covering her body in goosebumps and making her close her eyes. This man appreciated every single thing about her, and she knew she could never lose him.</p>
<p>When she opened her eyes waiting for his answer, she saw Jamie’s blue ones filling with tears, but his gentle smile showed that it was nothing other than happiness. And the words he was about to tell her left her with shining eyes.</p>
<p>“You and our bairn truly are my wonders of the past.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>In my last Chapter I talked about how I didn't know where to take this fic anymore. Shortly after uploading Chapter 10 I have managed to write this ending to give you lovely readers some closure to this fic.</p>
<p>I have tried to end this fic a LOT of times and was finally happy with this one.</p>
<p>It gives you all answers to the main characters in this fic &amp; I hope you like it.</p>
<p>I huge thank you to my BETA Kris &amp; to all you amazing readers!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>